Professor Anders Gustafsson at BI Norwegian Business School will give a lecture on “Do not touch ... but please do - the effect of touch in service encounters”. Following the lecture, you are invited to discuss how you can apply his insights in your business practices.

Have you ever thought of how touch influence your purchase decisions? Research has shown that a touch from a waiter will cause you to give a higher tip. Research has also shown that touching products will make you buy to a larger extent.

This seminar will focus on what happens when a sales person touches a customer both from the customer and the salespersons perspective. If touch is as powerful as research implies why is this not utilized to a greater extent?

Can the customer tell when a touch is not genuine? Why are not salespersons always willing to touch customers? And is it always beneficial?

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Practical information

«Marketing Research for Breakfast» is a meeting place for researchers and practitioners in marketing. BI’s marketing experts present their latest research results on relevant business topics. You – as a participant – get the opportunity to discuss how these results influence your company and business practice.

About Anders Gustafsson

Anders Gustafsson is a Professor in the Department of Marketing at Norwegian Business School (BI). He is conducting research on what can be summarized as management of customer relationships; with a special interest of the customer experience at the service encounter. This includes effects of gift-giving, scent/smell, touching/no-touching of products, lying, and sales people’s behaviour. Most of his research is carried out in close collaboration with companies. Dr. Gustafsson has published articles in journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Economic Psychology, and Journal of Service Research. Anders Gustafsson is the present editor-in-chief for Journal of Business Research and an associate editor for Journal of Service Research. Finally, he is president elect for American Marketing Association’s academic council.